


One Day at Time

by legendoftmorrow



Category: DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV)
Genre: F/M, Fluff and Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-26
Updated: 2020-08-26
Packaged: 2021-03-06 23:00:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,917
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26116837
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/legendoftmorrow/pseuds/legendoftmorrow
Summary: Zari start to wonder if the casual thing that her and John have can turn into something more. After listening to her brother's advice, she decides to have a conversation with John about it.
Relationships: John Constantine/Zari Tomaz | Zari Tarazi
Comments: 6
Kudos: 21





	One Day at Time

**Author's Note:**

> It's my first time writing a fic and I'm not fluent in english so sorry for any grammatical errors. Hope you guys like it! :)

Another day on the Waverider. The team has been quieter than usual since their captain disappeared, everyone was concerned and trying to figure out a way to bring her back.  
Over the weeks they have made some progress; they discovered that Sara was abducted by aliens (which seemed completely unreal even for them), discovered where she was and now they were trying to come up with a plan to rescue her. They already had tried before, but they were unsuccessful. At the moment, each legend was somewhere in the ship; some of them were doing their own thing and others trying to think of something that could help them to rescue Sara.

Behrad was walking down the hall when he looked at the library and saw Zari. She was sitting in one of the chairs, her phone in hand but staring at the ground with a distant look.  
He approached her, ran a hand over her hair and pressed a kiss on the top of her head, “Hey sis! How ya doin'?”  
“I’m fine," she answered, trying to hide her feelings, “I'm just here...thinking.”

“Are you like this because of Sara?” Behrad asked, “We will be able to rescue her, I’m sure of it! We will always make it in the end, we are legends!" her brother said, smiling at her and putting one of his hands on her shoulder.  
“No, it's not because of that,” she replied, “I mean, of course I'm worried about Sara and I want her to come back as soon as possible, but that's not what I'm thinking about right now”.

“Oh, I got it...you’re like this because of John,” Behrad said as he pulled one of the other chairs of the library close to where Zari was and sitting on it. “What's wrong? Did something happen between you two?”   
“We’re fine. Actually, what bothers me is not what is happening, but what hasn't happened yet,” she answered, sighing softly.  
“Now I didn't get it, can you explain?” Behrad asked, with a confused face.

Zari rolled her eyes playfully and chuckled lightly before starting to explain, “Well, John and I have been in this situation for a while... we get along, we have chemistry... but I don't really know what this relationship is. Actually I don't even know if what we have can be called a relationship.”  
“And you want to know what this thing that you guys have is... you want what you and John have to become something more, am I right?” Behrad asked her, already knowing what the answer would be.  
"Well... I think so," she answered, awkwardly.

“Z, are you in love with John?” Behrad asked, giving her sister a teasing smirk.  
“No!” Zari exclaimed, trying not to look flustered. “Well, I really like being with him; but I think that's just it”.  
“I don't know...I think it's something else...” Behrad replied, teasing his sister again.  
“Shut up!” she said jokingly, punching her brother’s arm lightly, which made him laugh.

“Look sis, going back to what we were talking about...you will only get rid of this doubt that is bothering you if you talk to John about it. You have to ask him what he thinks about what you guys have.”  
“What? No, no way I can do that!” Zari replied, feeling uneasy and insecure just imagining it happening; and she hated feeling that way. Insecure, vulnerable. 

In all these years as a digital influencer, she has learned to be confident, or at least always seem confident in front of other people; to keep her feelings buried deep down inside and never let them affect her or influence her decisions. 

It wasn’t easy to survive in this digital influencer world, there were people always wanting to bring each other down, besides the uncertainty of how long she would be able to stay on top. On the internet people and things come and go; whoever is popular today may well be completely forgotten in a week. If she wanted to survive in this world, she would have to be strong and protect herself, so she took all the things she learned and all the experiences she lived through and made them into a shield. 

She became a strong woman, achieved many things and managed to consolidate herself in that business. She was Zari Tarazi, a powerful woman.   
Feelings? a woman like her wouldn't let herself be swayed by them, she just had to ignore them and always act rationally.   
She always succeeded acting like that. Until now.

"Why not?" her brother asked, bringing her, who was distracted by her own thoughts back to the conversation.  
“I don't know, it may seem ridiculous. What if he thinks I'm trying to hurry things up? That I'm too desperate? Too sappy?” she asked, feeling nervous.  
“Oh, this man really messed with your head, didn't he?” Behrad asks, trying to hold back his laughter.  
Zari just rolled her eyes at her brother and said nothing.

"I don't really think that he will think this is ridiculous or have a bad impression of you," he said, trying to encourage her to talk to John. “You have to have this conversation with him, only this way you will stop feeling bothered like that.”  
“What if something goes wrong? What if I screw it up?” she asked him.  
"I don't think anything will go wrong, and if it does it is because he is an asshole who doesn't deserve you,” Behrad said, chuckling. “But I don't really think John is an asshole. I mean, he can be an asshole sometimes, but not when it comes to you.”  
That last sentence her brother said brought a smile to her face.

“C'mon sis, get up!” Behrad said, getting up from the chair he was in and reaching out his hand to help her up. She took his hands and got up from the chair.  
“Where is my powerful and confident sister?” he said, smiling at her and putting an arm around her shoulders, “Go talk to him now!”  
"Do you really think I should do this?" she asked her brother.  
"Yes, I really think you should go and talk to John" he answered, “I really think he has feelings for you. He looks at you in a different, special way. Besides, I have a little story to tell you...he called you his Zari once.”

“What?” Zari asked, surprised and trying to hide the smile that formed on her lips.  
"Well... he didn't exactly say it, but he hinted," Behrad answered her, who was looking at him a little confused.  
“Ok, let me explain to you; when we were stuck on those tv shows alternative realities that Charlie put us on, and you were possessed by the other Z, and me and the other people on the team had just remembered who we really are... you, well... not you, the other Z, just started making out with Nate. I was confused by everything that had happened, and wondering what would have happened to you, so I asked “Where is my Zari?” and John just replied, ‘Took the words right out of my mouth, mate’”. Behrad said the last sentence trying to do an impression of John's accent, which made his sister laugh. 

“So...” he looked at Zari, who said nothing but couldn't hide her smile, “Go there and talk to him, sis!” her brother said, pointing to the doorway. "And remember that I will always be here for you no matter what happens."  
“Thank you, B,” Zari said, turning to give her brother a hug.  
“You’re welcome. Now go!” he replied, chuckling a little.

Zari left the library and started walking down the hall of the waverider, checking the rooms looking for John. She found him in the cargo bay. He was sitting on one of the trunks, a bottle of whiskey by his side and a glass full of the drink in his hand. 

He was staring at the ground, with the same distant look that she has when her brother found her earlier in the library. She watched John from the doorway, and it took him a while to realize that she was there.

“Not smoking, you don't have to scold me this time, luv,” John said jokingly, making Zari laugh.   
"Are you gonna stand there? Come here," he said to her, who was still standing by the doorway. He took the bottle of whiskey that was by his side and placed it on top of the other trunk, so that she could sit next to him.  
“I'm not here to scold you this time,” Zari replied, walking towards him.  
"So, what happened?" he asked, realizing that she was flustered.

She sat in the trunk and took a deep breath, trying to get up the courage to start talking. “Well, I don't know where to start, so I'm just gonna say it: we've been hooking up for a while... this is being cool, we get along together, we have chemistry...”  
“And we have the best sex,” John said, smirking at her.  
“Yes, we have,” Zari replied, with an embarrassed giggle.

She was feeling so awkward next to him, she couldn't understand why he made her feel that way. She felt like a stupid teenager and she was absolutely hating it.

“But you don't want this anymore, I got it,” John said, trying to hide the sadness in his voice.  
“No, that's not it!” she said, reaching out to take his hand.  
“So, what is happening? Because I feel like you have something to say to me,” he asked as he linked his fingers through hers.  
“I want to know what this thing that we have means for you. This is just for fun or...” Zari started talking, but before she could finish she was interrupted by John.  
“Do you want to know if I have feelings for you? The answer is yes,” he said, placing his free hand over her cheek and running his thumb over her skin.

Zari couldn't hide her happiness, which showed on her face through her smile and bright eyes.   
They stared at each other for a few seconds before she placed one hand over his cheek and leaned over to kiss him.  
"Can I consider this kiss as an ‘I have feelings for you too’?" John asked after their kiss, with a smirk on his face.  
“Yes," she replied, giving him a wide smile.

Zari moved closer to him and rested her head on his shoulder. John wrapped his arm around her shoulder, pulled her close to him, and pressed a kiss on her forehead. 

The atmosphere of tenderness and affection in the place was quickly dissipated, giving way to silence. John tilted his head to look at Zari and noticed that she still looked uneasy.   
“Do you have something else to say?" he asked, "You can ask me anything, luv."  
She tilted her head to look at him and took a deep breath before asking him: “Do you think we can take our relationship to another level? Do you think we could be something more?”

John looked at her and froze for a moment. He really wanted to be with her, he really wanted to say yes. That word almost slipped out of his mouth, but before he could say anything he was stopped by his own thoughts. The ghosts of his past have returned to torment him. The memories of every loss he suffered, every mistake he made and all the pain he brought to people he loved because of his mistakes going through his mind. He couldn't do that again, not with her. She didn't deserve this.

“I'm sorry luv, but I can’t do this,” John finally replied, unwrapping his arm from her shoulders and looking away from her.  
“Why not?” Zari asked, shock and disappointment written all over her face.  
“You know how my life has been...all the people that I've lost, all the suffering that I brought to people I cared about. I can't do this to you,” he replied, sadly.  
“How can you be so sure that something like this will happen again?”   
“Well, this is my life. Shit like this always happens to me. I can't let something like this happen to you too,”   
“But what if nothing like this happens? Are you going to throw away what we have because of things that you are not even sure will happen?”  
“I can't risk it. I don't want to hurt you and I would never forgive myself if something bad happened to you because of me,” he said, looking into her eyes.  
“So do you prefer to just stay there with all your doom and gloom instead of trying to make things different this time around?” she asked looking at him, with anger flashing in her eyes. “I came here, I opened myself up to you, which is so difficult for me to do… I made myself vulnerable, I did things that I would never do, and you can't even give yourself a chance to try to make what we have work?”

“Oh, so this is what we’re talking about? The little princess's ego,” John said, mockingly.  
“No, this is not about me, it's about us!” She exclaimed, raising her voice, “We're talking about our feelings here, but I think I can talk about how I feel too, right? I had bad experiences in my life, and I know they don't compare to what you went through but those experiences hurt me and made it difficult for me to open up to other people and show my feelings. I just wanted to show you that it wasn't easy for me to come here and open up myself like that, but I still did. But apparently for you your pain is the only valid one.”

“Ok, I’m sorry for what I said. But you have to understand me, I’m not doing it for me, I’m doing it for you.”   
“I thought I already told you I don't need a savior,” Zari said, sharply.  
“What do you expect me to do? That I let you get hurt? That I let you drown into the darkness that I live in?”  
“No! I wanted you to try to make things work, to have the courage to open up to try to have good things in your life!”  
“Not everyone has a good life or a happy ending, luv. Maybe I am doomed to have none of these things,”  
“C’mon! Don’t give me that destiny chat! It is our choices that define our lives, not destiny, and you know that!”  
“But sometimes things beyond our control happen.”  
“So what? Are you just going to stop living because of this?” She asked, expecting an answer from him, but he didn't answer anything, just heaved out a deep sigh instead. 

“Ok, it seems you've made your choice. So I'll just leave you alone,” she said as she walked towards the doorway, trying to hold back the tears forming in her eyes. When she reached the doorway, she turned to him and said, “I thought that what you feel for me... or what you say that you feel, was enough to make you want to try to make things work, to make you want to give yourself a chance to be happy... but apparently it isn't."

Before Zari could leave the room, John got up and ran towards her. He grabbed her by the hand and said, “Zari, I-I'm sorry... I'm a fucking idiot! I will try, ok? I'll do my best to make this work, to not hurt you, to make you happy.” She turned around to look at him and he cupped her cheek with his free hand, “You already mean so much to me, I can't be without you,” he said, looking into her eyes. 

They stared at each other's eyes in silence for a while until he leaned in to kiss her. She kissed him back, running her fingers through his hair. He put his hands on her waist, pulling her closer. When they finished the kiss, John rested his forehead on hers and they gave each other a warm smile. 

“So... are we dating now?” Zari asked, breaking the silence.  
“If you still want this nasty piece of work as your boyfriend,” he replied, pointing to himself; “Then, yes.”  
“Yes, I want you. And I think I can handle you very well,” she said teasingly, grabbing him by the tie.  
“Oh, yeah?” John asked, raising an eyebrow and putting his hand on her waist, pulling her closer.  
“Yeah,” Zari answered, leaning to give him a passionate, heated kiss. After a while she broke the kiss, so they could catch their breath. 

“Now, back to serious talk,” she said, playing with his hair, “I really think we can make this work, but for that we will have to do it together. We will have to trust each other; no mistrust, no lies, no secrets, okay?”  
“Okay,” he replied, nodding his head and leaning to press a kiss on her lips.  
“About your other concern...about something bad happening to me.. I trust you to protect me,” 

John looked at the ground with sadness in his eyes, the high possibility of him failing her hovering over his head, “Zari–“ He tried to start talking, but before he could say anything else he was interrupted by her.  
“Yes, I trust you to protect me,” Zari said, cupping his face and turning his head to face her, “Besides, I have the totem and my brother to protect me too...and if all of this doesn't work, we have the legends to help us. They’re a mess but we know we can count on them,”  
“Aye, true.”

“But let's not think about these things, let’s not think about the future, let's live in the present and enjoy every moment together. Let's live one day at time.”  
“Sounds like a good motto to me,” John said, tilting his head and smiling.  
“Yeah, it really is,” Zari replied, laughing a little. 

“Come here,” He said, taking her hand and guiding her towards one of the trunks, inviting her to sit down again. They sat down and right after he wrapped his arm around her shoulders and pressed a kiss on her forehead.

"Guess I'm officially your Zari now..." Zari said, giving him a mischievous look.  
“W–What? Oh, Behrad told you, didn't he?” John asked, rolling his eyes playfully.  
"Yes, he told me," Zari replied, chuckling a little.  
“Are you laughing at me?” he asked, pretending to be offended.  
“No, I'm laughing at your reaction. But just so you know, I thought it was cute. The whole story and your reaction.” She said, squeezing his cheeks and leaning to press a kiss on his lips. John gave her a smile and blushed a little.

“You haven't given me an answer yet,” Zari said, fluttering her lashes at him.   
“Oh, do you want an answer?” John asked with a teasing smirk, “So here is your answer: Yes, Miss Tarazi, you're officially my Zari now.” 

Her heart was fluttering as she heard him saying those words, her face glowing with happiness. He was looking at her with such tenderness that she couldn’t resist but giving him a kiss. The kiss was slow and soft, they expressed in the kiss everything they couldn’t say with words.

“I really like you, magic man,” she said with a soft smile, running her thumb over his cheek.   
“I like you too, Z. So much,” John replied, leaning in to press a kiss on her lips. 

After the kiss he chuckled a bit before asking her, “You really like to call me that, huh?”   
“Yeah,” she answered, laughing a little, “It's part of our thing, as well as the bickering, the teasing and the flirting,”  
“As long as we end up making out after all of this, it's ok for me.” John said, tilting his head and smirking at her.  
“Oh, how romantic!” Zari said with a fake gasp, putting her hand on her chest dramatically.   
“In my defense, I have to say that making out is also a part of our thing.”  
“Yeah, true," she replied, laughing softly.  
“And that's the best part, isn't it?” John asked, giving her a teasing look.  
“Hmm, I’m not sure... teasing you is a really good part too,” Zari answered with a mischievous smirk as she played with his tie.  
“I know you’re really a teaser, but I still think making out is your favorite part,” He said, getting up and positioning himself in front of her, placing his hands on the truck on either side of her and leaning down to get closer to her face. 

The proximity of their faces made their hearts beat faster and their breaths mingle, one of his hands were now on her waist and her gaze was alternating between his eyes and his lips. Despite this, she kept trying to keep the nonchalant act.  
“Oh, yeah? What makes you so sure of that?”  
“Your body don't lie, luv,” he whispered in her ear before biting her ear lobe and trailing open-mouthed kisses on her neck. She ran her fingers on his hair and bit her lip to hold back a moan, but he could feel her skin shivering and her back arching at his kisses, what made him stop to look at her with a devilish grin on his lips.  
“That's definitely your favorite part, innit?” John asked with a cocky smirk on his lips.  
“Shut up!” she replied, grabbing him by the collar and pulling him into a searing kiss.

They got lost in the kiss, tasting each other’s lips, enjoying each other’s touch, but soon their moment was interrupted by a voice that came from the hall.  
“Z? John? Ava wants us to meet in the parlour now,” Behrad said, as he walked down the hall looking for them.  
Zari quickly broke the kiss when she heard her brother’s voice, which made John let out a frustrated sigh.  
“Bollocks!” He groaned, and she couldn’t help but laugh at his reaction.

They were adjusting their clothes when Behrad finally appeared in the cargo bay’s doorway. “Hey guys, sorry for interrupting...whatever you were doing here, but Ava needs us there. Kara and J’onn J’onzz sent us some information that can help us rescue Sara.”  
“Ok, we're going,” Zari said, as she quickly headed to the door, trying to break the awkwardness of the moment. Behrad and Zari were already walking down the hall a little bit ahead of John, who had to speed up to keep up with them.

“You were going to leave your boyfriend behind?” John asked, coming up behind Zari, wrapping his arms around her waist and kissing her neck.  
Behrad stopped walking and turned back to look at them with a surprised look on his face, that was quickly replaced by a smile. “Ok, I'm really happy for you guys, but can we go now?”  
“Yes, sir!” Zari replied playfully, giving her brother a salute before laughing, which made Behrad and John laugh too. 

After that they continued walking towards the parlor. John held out his hand to Zari, soon their fingers were intertwined and a huge smile appeared on their faces. They couldn’t know what the future held for them, but for now they were living in the present, and the present was being really good.


End file.
